Big Firms Increase Charitable Donations in 2013

Korea's top businesses increased their charitable donations by 22 percent last year despite sluggish performances.

A survey by CEO Score of 78 out of the top 100 companies that revealed the size of their donations last year showed they contributed a combined W1.48 trillion, up from W1.22 trillion in 2012 (US$1=W1,080).

Their sales rose a mere 2.9 percent and operating profit 5.3 percent over the same period.

Samsung Electronics was the most generous company having pledged W495.3 billion in 2013, more than a two-fold increase from the year before. It was followed by KT (W131.5 billion), Naver (W116.2 billion), SK Telecom (W82.1 billion) and Hyundai Motor (W75.1 billion).